There are loads of these types of posts on the net, but what the hell, here's mine. It's not particularly technical; if you run Linux or OSX or whatever, bully for you. These are just some suggestions for the average user who would like to make Windows (in particular XP) more liveable. In its favour, it is based on many years (c.10) of living with Windows, from when I was still on 3.1 at work and Win98 at home. I've tried them all and they all work well for me.

If you're interested in trying any of the apps I mention below, Google, as they say, is your friend when it comes to download links; I may fill them in later if I get time. Many of these apps also have pro versions that are paid-for, but the basic versions have all the essential functionality you need. Of course, there are also plenty of alternatives; these are just the ones that work for me. Again, if you're happier with something else, lovely; this is for anyone who might not know about the options.

1. Open Office. If you haven't tried this, and for any reason you want an alternative to Microsoft Office, you really should. It's a complete Office suite (word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, and more) and it's totally free. It's just reached version 3.0 so it's increasingly mature, and although it isn't as slick as Office 2007 (which tempted me back to Microsoft after a couple of quite happy years as an Oo user), it's the next best thing, and will save all your documents in Microsoft-compatible formats (.doc, .xls, .ppt, etc.)

2. VLC. Video Lan Client is a very flexible free media player that can work over networks or just on your PC.

3. TVersity. A media server that will send your music and video files over your home network to a variety of devices including your Playstation 3 and your Xbox 360, but will also work with mobile devices for remote access.

4. Logmein. Remote access to your PC over the web from anywhere.

5. Winamp. A very full-featured audio player that will deal with your iPod or other mp3 player, rip CDs to mp3, and can also do video, internet radio, is fully skinnable, etc.

6. Zone Alarm. A software firewall that gives you much more control over what applications are connecting in from and out to the internet than the default Windows option.

7. AVG anti-virus. Not the only free AV client out there, and it has returned a few false positives in the last 12 months, but they get fixed extremely quickly (< 24 hours) and it is updated more or less daily.

8. Free Commander. A replacement for Windows Explorer as a file manager. I really couldn't live without it.

9. Alt-tab replacement. If you use this key combo to switch between open applications (as you should, as it's really far quicker than reaching for the mouse and clicking) this makes the experience far more enlightening; you get a thumbnail of the window you're switching to. Actually one of Microsoft's powertoys.

10. FastStone image viewer. A great free image manager if you have lots of digital photographs etc. It has basic editing functionality as well, though if you want something more fully featured, try The Gimp, a good imitation of photoshop and also free.

11. Bulk Rename Utility. If you manage lots of files and want to change default names, extensions, etc., this is a godsend; it can save you literally hours of work.

12. Firefox. A great replacement for Internet Explorer as your web browser from the Mozilla foundation. Hard to believe anyone doesn't already know about it as like Oo it also at 3.0 but if you haven't heard of it, give it a try; there are lots of free extensions for it. It's what I'm typing in right now.

13. Thunderbird. The email client from the Mozilla foundation and a good replacement for Windows Mail/Outlook Express. I've been on it for about 5 years and I'm still going strong.

14. MozBackup. As the name suggests, a backup tool for your web and email settings. Save them somewhere save and never lose your crucial stuff again.

15. CCleaner. A system maintenance utility that will safely delete unused files and keep the Windows registry in good order, as well as much else besides.

16. SharpReader. An aggregator for RSS news feeds. Subscribe to feeds from different sites and centralise your news reading.

17. ΅Torrent. A bittorrent client. There are many, but this one seems to support the most features.

18. Google Earth. Google make a lot of great software in addition to their search engine - their desktop search is very handy, and Chrome is also a neat browser - but if I had to pick one thing that they do, it would be this satellite-image based mapping software.

19. Skype. Not exactly free if you want to make calls to landlines, but PC to PC is free, plus it's a good chat client. I actually do use it for calls overseas as its so cheap - and the call quality seems to be improving.

20. mp3tag. Very useful if you have a collection of mp3 audio files that you are struggling to keep in order.

21. CD art display. An add-on for winamp that will show the cover art of the CD you are now playing if you have it saved on your computer, or will search for it if you don't.

22. AT Notes. Now no longer in development, but a nice free yellow sticky notes application nevertheless.

23. Winkey. Ditto - was made by Copernic, and makes the Windows key on your keyboard actually useful (I set Winkey + X for my file manager ['explorer'], Winkey + W for Word, etc.]

24. TClockX. Again, maybe now a bit hard to find, but a very good clock extension with popup calendar for WinXp. Works best if you use the Win98 style gui, which I do.

25. FLV player. For viewing flash videos downloaded from the web and stored locally on your PC.

26. Daemon tools. The best emulator for CD and DVD rom drives; allows you to mount images and for your computer to think you've inserted physical media.

27. Teracopy. A far superior tool for file copying to the one built in to Windows.

28. Unlocker. For when Windows explorer won't let go even when you've told it to.

29. Quick SFV. A tool for verifying the integrity of downloaded files that include an .sfv file.

30. CD Display. Not to be confused with CD art display. This is for reading comic books (in .cbz or .cbr format) on your PC.

31. Secunia PSI. A 'personal software inspector' that makes sure all your applications are up to date and gives you download links to any needed updates. A very handy security tool that forms an essential complete to Windows/Microsoft updates.

Now go and try some of them out. You might only be interested in a few of them but they are all good!